Vegan Meringues – Recipe

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All hail the mighty chickpea, King of the pulse world! Possibly the most versatile ingredient in the vegan world???

I have been wanting to try vegan meringues for ages and was extremely skeptical that chickpea juice could magically turn into meringue. However I can officially confirm it does work. These meringues were so easy to make and by varying the cooking time, they turn out either crispy and sweet or with a marshmallowy centre. I accompanied mine with vegan lemon curd, fruit and a coconut whipped cream (click on the links for recipes from my previous posts). The meringues are probably a bit sweeter than the regular eggy versions and also they don’t seem to last as long once you add a wet ingredient such as cream or fruit compote.

On a side note, the recipe includes cream of tartar which can be difficult to find in Finland. I have been told some pharmacies sell the equivalent (viinikivi). However it is also available at Benfords, a shop selling English and American ingredients in the centre of Helsinki.

Vegan Meringues – makes 18 individual meringues

250 ml canned chickpea juice, preferably unsalted

150 g sugar

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1 tbsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 90 degrees celcius.

Simply add the juice, cream of tartar and vanilla to a bowl and begin to mix. Slowly add the sugar and continue whisking until the mixture forms stiff peaks. This can take a while. I had my KMix on full for 6 -7 mins, but you need to make sure the mixture is as stiff as possible, otherwise the meringue will spread in the oven.

Line a tray with baking parchment and pipe or dollop the meringue into individual meringues, as pictured above. You may find it easier to draw a round a glass to give you a circular guide if you are not so confident piping free hand.

Bake for 1 and 1/2 to 2 hours depending on how crisp you want the centre of the meringue. Leave to cool and then enjoy

I think the secret is whipping the chickpea juice for quite a long time. You need to whip it longer than you would egg whites. I literally whipped it so much that when i lifted the whisk up the mixture stuck in a large lump to the whisk. You also need to make sure you cook them long enough otherwise they collapse. If you are not sure you can easily tear off the baking paper underneath one and leave it to cool for a couple of minutes. If it collapses you know you need to cook the others for longer. Hope this helps and good luck!!

oh boy, do not, even, think, about adding cocoa powder what a mess. It must have been dutch process cocoa and it started a chemical reaction and turned the stiffly beaten mereingues to liquidy foam, that went flat in the oven. I am baking it just to make it easier to clean up. I had rewhipped it, but there must have been some residual cocoa on the sides of the bowl and when I went to fill the piping bag the mess occurred again.

Hi – you can do, but I also usually begin adding the sugar little by little as I am whisking up to the stiff peak stage. Unlike egg the aquafaba can’t be over whipped and I haven’t found a difference in either method, it is more about getting the aqaufaba as stiff as you can before you put it into the oven. Hope this helps